Posting tray cabinets



May 7, 1957 J. H. PAGE 2,791,478

POSTING TRAY CABINETS Filed Aug. 25, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. 1mm 44. PAQE PARKER & CARTER ATTORNEYS May 7, 1957 .1. H. PAGE POSTING TRAY CABINETS 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Aug S mfi ma N CN IA 1 am H mm N a m M P om Y B mm mw om om 0w United States Patent "ice POSTING TRAY CABINETS John H. Page, Muskegon, Mich., assignor to The Shaw Walker Company, Muskegou, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application August 25, 1955, Serial'No. 530,484

4 Claims. (Cl. 312-298) This invention relates to filing cabinets especially adapted for containing records used with posting machines or the like, and more particularly to heatemsulated cabinets of the character described, for protecting the records against loss by fire.

Filing cabinets of the kind mentioned are generally made low in height so that their top surfacecan be utilized for reference material, and the active records are kept in trays contained in the top drawer of the cabinet where they are most accessible. The bottom drawer, if any, is used for storage.

The principal object of the invention is to prov de means for elevating the record trays to a higher position in the drawer when the latter is in full open position so that the records will be at a more advantageous operating position, extending above the top surface of the cabinet.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for automatically lowering the trays so that the drawer can be closed, particularly in event of an emergency such as a fire in or adjacent to the room where the recordsare being used. This reduces the possibility that a panicky operator may fail to get the records back into their protecting. cabinet before leaving the cabinet.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a self-contained elevating mechanism of the character described capable of being applied to or removed from a cabinet drawer as a unit.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description.

The invention may best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a cabinet embodying the invention, with the drawer in fully open position.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary front view of the drawer, with the front wall of the drawer broken away, and showing the platform in elevated position.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary side view of the drawer in open position, with its side wall broken away to show details of the platform mechanism in elevated position.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3, but with the platform mechanism in lowered position.

Referring to details of the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, the posting tray cabinet is indicated generally at 10, having a bottom wall 11, top wall 12, side walls 13, 13 and rear wall 14. The cabinet is preferably of the fire-resistant type wherein the walls are insulated against heat. The front of the cabinet has an upper opening 15 for a posting tray drawer 16. In the form shown, a smaller, lower drawer 16A may be used for storage purposes.

The posting tray drawer 16 is of the conventional sliding type commonly used in filing cabinets, which may include conventional telescopic side rails 17, 17 connected along the inner sides of the cabinet for extension or retraction of the drawer. In the form shown, the posting drawer 16 has low side walls 18, slidably mounted on the telescopic rails 17, as by downwardly extending channels 19. The front wall 20 of the drawer is heat- 2,791,478 Patented. May 7, 1957 trays 23 (shown in phantom) of the kind commonly employed for holding a plurality of records, usually con sisting of upstanding indexed cards. 01'- files 23a when the, Th

drawer is in open position as shown in Figure l. posting tray-s 23 :are usually made as, separate elongated units which, together with their indexed records or cards, are placed transversely on a platform within the drawer so that they can be reversed, for access from either side of the drawer, or can be placed at an intermediate angle to one or the other side of the drawer for ready access.

by the operator as desired. These posting trays are well known in the art and need not be further described.

The elevator mechanism consists essentially. of a vertically movable platform 25 and a horizontally movable carriage 26 mounted beneath said; platform and. slidably supported on the drawer bottom.

The platform 25 has downwardly turned side flanges.

28, 28, and end flanges 29, 29. Antifriction discs, 30, 30

of nylon or the like, may be inserted in the end flanges for engagement with the front and rear walls of the drawer as the platform is raised or lowered in the drawer. As

shown in phantom in Figures 1, 2 and 3, one or moreposting trays 23 are supported. on the upper surface of the platform 25.

The carriage 2 6 is substantially shorter lengthwise than the platform 25. It has downwardly turned side flanges 31 and end flanges 32. Transverse front and rear shafts 33 and 34 are supported near opposite ends in the side flanges 31 and have wheels 35, 35 and 36, 36 at opposite ends, for rolling engagement along the bottom wall 21 of the drawer.

Means for controlling elevation of the platform 25 relative to the carriage 26 consists of two generally triangular side plates 37, 37 each pivotally connected at one corner 38 to shaft 34 on the carriage and pivotally connected at a second corner 39 to a transverse shaft 40 supported in the side flanges 28 of the platform. The third corner 41 of each side plate has an operating lever 42 rigidly secured thereto, and extending in a plane generally parallel to a plane passing through the axes of shafts 34 and 40. As will be observed in Figures 3 and 4, the corners 38 and 39 of the triangular side plates 37, through which said shafts 34 and 40 extend, form in effect, a pair of links for rockingly connecting the platform 25 with the rear end of the carriage 26.

Each lever 42 has a handle 43 at its outer end. The two levers 42, with their handles 43 are adapted to extend upwardly above the lower level of the top crosspiece 15a of the drawer opening 15 when the platform is in elevated position as shown in Figures 1, 3 and 4.

The front end of the platform is elevated and lowered simultaneously with the rear end of the platform by a pair of links 45, 45 each having one end pivotally connected to the front shaft 33 on the carriage, and an opposite end pivotally connected to the ends of a cross-shaft 46 supported in the side flanges 28, 28 of the platform 25 adjacent the front end of latter. As will be seen from Figures 3 and 4, the links 45 are of substantially the same effective length and disposed of at substantially the same angle between the carriage 26 and the platform 25 as the The low side-walls 18 of thedrawer permit access from either side of the, drawer to one. or more. postingside plates 37. When the platform is in elevated position,

the side plates 37 are rocked rearwardly to shift the carriage toward the front end of the drawer bottom, with the two sets of supporting links just mentioned disposed generally in an upright positionv When the platform is lowered, as shown in Figure 4, the side plates 37 are rocked forwardly so that carriage 26 is shifted rearwardly along the drawer bottom, and the supporting links assume a forward and slightly upward inclined position.-

Spring yielding means are provided to assist the o erator in raising the platform, and to cushion the lowering of the platform when it falls into its lowermost position. In the form shown, the spring means consists of a pair of coil springs 48, each having their front ends hooked over the cross-shaft 46 near the front end of the platform, and their opposite ends hooked over the crossshaft 49 having its' ends supported in an upstanding U-shaped bracket 50 afiixed on the top of the carriage 26 adjacent the front end thereof.

The use and operation is as follows:

The platform 25 can be lowered manually by grasping either one or both of the operating levers 42, and swing said lever forwardly to its lowered position as shown in Figure 4. The platform can also be lowered automatically by the action of closing the drawer, which action first causes the lever 42 to impinge against the crosspiece 15a of the drawer opening. Further movement of the drawer into the cabinet causes the levers to move forwardly to a point where the weight on the platform exceeds the upward component of the tension on springs 48, 48 whereupon the platform will then continue its drop into its lowermost position, shown in Filgure 4. This feature of automatic lowering of the platform by closing the drawer is of great advantage in an emergency such as fire, since it reduces the possibility of a panicky operator to fail to return the records into their protective cabinet before he leaves; otherwise he might unsuccessfully attempt to' close the drawer without first lowering the recordstto their bottom-most position, in which case the records would project upwardly into position to make it impossible to close the drawer.

2 Although I have'shown and described a certain embodiment of the" invention, it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a filing cabinet, a sliding drawer having a bottom, side, and front walls, the front wall forming a closure for the cabinet, elevating platform means in said drawer comprising a platform member, a carriage member beneath said platform slidable horizontally in said drawer, linkage means connecting said carriage with said platform for supporting the latter at varying elevations responsive to horizontal movement of said carriage relative to said platform, and lever means connected to said linkage means swingable to a position in horizontal registry with a fixed part of the cabinet above the path of travel of said drawer when the drawer is open and the platform is in elevated'position, whereby said lever means will be automatically actuated for lowering the platform when the drawer is moved toward its closed position.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein the linkage means includes two pairs of substantially parallel links pivotally connected adjacent the front and rear ends of the platform and carriage respectively.

3. The structure of claim 2, wherein the lever means includes a lever fixed to and extending in general parallel spaced relationship to a line passing through the pivotal axes of one of the rear pair of links.

4. The structure of claim 2, wherein the lever means includes a pair of levers each fixed to and extending in general parallel spaced relationship to a line passing through the pivotal axes of one of the rear pair of links.

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

